Nowhere to Run on an Island
by watchmego21
Summary: <html><head></head>Valerie was going to her new school  an all boy's school  when the plane crashed. She's starting to get to know some of her classmates, but will she really wish that she had? How far are they willing to go for love or what they think is love?</html>
1. Chapter 1

**This is my very first fanfic! I know I'm not the greatest writer (you'll obviously begin to see that through my work) so I really want reviews! Please bear with me through the beginning because it's usually the worst part in a story (in my opinion). So, please help the poor in writing and review! Thanks! Oh, and I don't own Lord of the Flies, just in case you were wondering. I know my writing is so much like William Golding's (sarcasm).**

I had a bad feeling about this school, a really bad feeling. I knew I shouldn't have come and no matter how many times I told my parents, they never listened, of course. I should have stayed at my old school where I knew everyone and where there was no plane crash. I mean, my parents didn't know that the plane would crash, but still. I started walking through the forest through the jungle when I felt my foot sink into something. Great. I've walked on this island for less than 5 minutes and I've already stepped in crap. Lovely. I saw pigs earlier, so I figured it must have been one of theirs. Anyway, let's stop talking about pigshit.

Before I could go off exploring, I heard the blasting of a horn or something. It blew repeatedly, so I was easily able to follow it. I found a large semi-circle of boys. All my age (sophomores) and ALL boys. I should have known, the plane was going to an all-boys school. Well, almost all boys. My parents made a few calls and put in some extra money to send me to an all-boys school, even though I'm a girl (my dad's job makes us move to different places and there wasn't another school for 50 miles ). However, this was my first year, so I hadn't met any of the boys yet. What a fantastic way to introduce ourselves: on a deserted island all alone.

As I approached the group, they noticed me and gaped as if they'd just found the last girl on Earth. I noticed how similar their uniforms were to mine, which had to be altered for a girl. They all had navy blue pants with a white shirt and a navy blue jacket with red lining around the pockets and bottom. Their red striped ties were loosened around their necks, which was the same as mine. I was wearing a plain navy blue skirt with red lining on the bottom and a white shirt as well. My knee-highs were navy blue and I was wearing black flats. Instead of a jacket like the boys, I was given a sweater to go with my ensemble. No one said anything, so I had to step up to stop the awkward silence. "Hi." At least that got someone to say something.

A boy with blonde fair hair who was holding the conch (the "horn") spoke. "Hello. Um, I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but why were you on a plane to an all-boys school?" It wasn't exactly what I'd hoped someone would first say to me, but I went with it.

"My parents pulled a few strings to get me to go to your school this year. It's almost an all-boys school, now. So, anyway, hello classmates." Quiet. Obviously, no one here can take a hint. "I'm Valerie."

The boy with the cream shell spoke again (I just realized that he was pretty cute). "I'm Ralph and I was just chosen chief. You'll get to know everyone as we go along." I gave a nod and took a seat. "Alright guys, I haven't seen anyone else on the island, and if they were, they would probably have come by now. So, we're going to need rules if we're going to get by. Got that?" There were snickers, but no objections. "One thing is that in order to speak during assemblies, you need the conch, just so that we don't have everyone talking at once. Also, we're going to need jobs, but we'll worry about that lat-"

"The choir and I will be hunters," interrupted a voice. He walked up and snatched the conch. This boy had fiery red hair, icy blue eyes, and quite the attitude. Also, he was kind of hot, but in a badass/dangerous/douchebag way. "Isn't that right boys?" he asked, looking over at a group of boys with black cloaks draped over their blazers. They nodded nervously.

"Okay," said Ralph, grabbing back the conch. "But we'll start our jobs tomorrow. Today, we explore. We're not even sure if this is actually an island. So that we don't get all mixed up, I'll choose a few people to go with me. How about…" his eyes scanned the crowd of children. "Jack…" As Jack stood up, I realized that he was the boy with red hair. "Simon…" I noticed that he was a boy with black hair and sparkly green eyes. " … and…what about you Valerie? Do you like adventure?"

"I wouldn't mind it," I answered, trying to stand up so that no one would get a peek up my skirt.

"Awesome," he replied. "We'll try to be back before dark. Remember, no wandering. Well, not far." I started to follow the group when I noticed a rather chubby kid go up to Ralph looking rather upset. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but the chubby kid didn't seem to get any happier.

"Is he alright?" I asked.

"Who, Piggy? Yeah, he's fine," Ralph replied. "Well, he'll be fine. Anyway, we should start exploring now. Don't want to get lost in the dark."


	2. Chapter 2

**Second chapter! I appreciate reviews, I don't own this, and I know it hasn't gotten very exciting yet but please bear with me!**

After we started walking into the forest, it didn't take long before we spotted a pig.

"I got this," whispered Jack, as he took out his army knife.

"What?" I cried. "You're gonna kill it?"

"Yeah," he said, making it seem like it was obvious. "How do you think people get meat? It doesn't exactly grow in a blueberry bush."

"Ooh, sassy," I said, causing him to blush and Ralph and Simon to laugh. I looked away as Jack got closer and closer to the innocent creature. I heard it squeal and I gave a short, somewhat quiet yelp. But then I heard rustling. "Did you kill it?" I asked, afraid to look.

"No," I heard Ralph say. I turned to find Jack holding the knife, looking angry with himself.

"I couldn't find a good place to stab it," mumbled Jack. I decided not to poke fun at him because I didn't want to get him hyped up on murdering.

"Let's keep going," I said. Ralph continued to leave as we followed.

"Is…is that a mountain?" That was the first time I had heard Simon speak. He was pointing to the huge landform in front of us.

"I guess it is," I answered. "Should we climb it? We'll probably be able to see the view of the surrounding area from the top." The boys nodded and we started to ascend up the mountain. My feet slipped a few times, but I never fell. I'm usually pretty good about staying on my feet. A few times, we had to get on our hands and knees because of how steep it was. Jack insisted on going last, and I soon saw why.

"You okay down there, Jack?" called Ralph who was the highest above the group, leading us. We all turned around to see how far along he was. I noticed his eyes weren't glued to my ass, but under my ass (more like under my skirt).

"Ew, perv!" I shouted. Ralph and Simon pretended not to hear anything and just kept going. "Go in front of me."

"Why?" he asked, with a fake-upset frown.

"Just go," I ordered.

He sighed and climbed in front of me. "Oh, I get, it. You'd rather have the view, huh?"

"Yes, exactly," I said sarcastically. "You got me. Now climb."

The rest of the crawling went better. We finally reached the top of the mountain and we all took in the view. I guess some people's view varied from others because Jack's eyes were glued to something that wasn't the island. Luckily, however, I didn't have to tell him because Ralph gave him a kick in the foot. I pretended not to notice to not make things awkward.

"It's so pretty," I sighed. "But, it looks like it's an island, alright. So, should we start heading down?" Ralph offered that I lead, so I agreed and gave him a smile that said, "thank you." Luckily, I was fast enough for the boys and we made it down without any complaints.

"It's starting to get dark," mentioned Simon. "Do you think we can make it back tonight?"

Ralph looked at the sun and gave a shake of his head. "I don't think so. It looks like we're on our own for the night. I suppose we should get some fruit or something." At this Jack grumbled some words we couldn't hear, but he didn't protest.

Simon looked around before saying, "I saw some banana trees that way."

"Good eye," complimented Ralph, making Simon smile. We trekked through the forest to find these banana trees. When I got there, I realized we had to climb. And I was wearing a skirt.

"Alright," I said nervously. "You guys start on those trees and I'll climb this one." I waited patiently for all of them to start making their way up the trees. Jack, who chose to climb the tree next to me, was going particularly slow. I'm sure you know why. I was too hungry to wait, so I climbed the tree from the other side (making it a sight-blocker for Jack) and went quickly to grab a bunch of bananas. It wasn't long before I heard a rip. "Ah, crap," I muttered as the boys giggled. My skirt had torn from the bottom to halfway up my thigh. I ignored it for the time being and focused on grabbing those bananas so I wouldn't give Jack that long of a show. They were on pretty tight, so it took some hard yanking. I noticed Jack trying to angle himself, so I chucked a banana at him, catching him off-guard and knocking him from where he was on the tree. The other boys laughed while Jack sat up, rubbing his head. I quickly slid down the tree, my bundle of bananas laying on the ground. "Is this enough for tonight?" I called up at Ralph and Simon. Their eyes widened at the number of bananas I had collected and they immediately jumped down from their trees. "Help yourselves," I said, tossing them each a banana.

"Hey, don't I get one?" Jack asked.

"You already have yours," I answered, my eyes referring to the banana that lay next to him that had knocked him out of the tree. Ralph and Simon chuckled through their mouthfuls of mush and Jack glared at them. I placed the rest of the fruit in the middle of our circle and decided to make some chit-chat. "So, how long have you guys been at this school?" They all answered in the order of the clockwise circle.

"I've been here since 7th grade," answered Ralph.

"Freshman year," said Simon.

"7th grade," Jack mumbled.

"Cool. Have you guys ever had a girl at your school?"

In unison they all replied, "Nope."

"Huh…"

Ralph swallowed his bite of banana to ask me a question. "Why did you transfer here? Er, may I ask?"

I smiled at him and quickly explained. "My dad's job sends us moving a lot, and we were sent to the area around the school. There wasn't another school for 50 miles, and that was an all boys school, too. So here I am."

"What's he do?" asked Simon.

"Police officer."

Jack snickered. "So are you all uptight, being the daughter of a policeman?"

"Not really, but I can be at times. It all depends."

"On what?"

"The situation."

Jack smirked again. "You sure do sound uptight."

"Yeah, well, whatever." I couldn't think of much to say. It was a lot darker now.

"Maybe we should get some sleep," suggested Ralph. We all nodded and set out to find a somewhat comfortable place to sleep. We found a soft, grassy area and lay down. I waited for everyone to take their spots so that I wouldn't have to sleep near Jack. We spread out and simply flopped on our backs before quickly drifting off to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi! This is going pretty fast, I know, but this is my first! So, again, reviews are appreciated. And just wait for the next chapter please! I don't own Lord of the Flies, just in case you were wondering. Thanks!**

I woke up before any of the other boys did, which was surprising to me seeing as how I usually wake up the latest around others. I sat up and realized that I had bugs all over myself. I sprang up and started rubbing my arms and legs, trying to get them off. I _hate_ bugs. I did my best not to scream, and I think I did pretty well since none of the boys woke. I walked around them (it took all of my strength not to kick Jack) to go to where we found the bananas yesterday. Unfortunately, the rustling in the trees woke up Ralph.

"Valerie?" he whispered. "Where are you going?"

"Breakfast," I whispered back.

He quietly got up from the ground and walked over to me. "I'll go with."

Off we went into the bright forest. Now that we weren't within earshot of Simon and Jack, we could talk at a normal volume. "About how many kids are in the grade?" I asked, trying to make conversation.

"Maybe, like, 70," he answered. I didn't feel threatened by Ralph at all, so I immediately started climbing the banana tree. "Where'd you learn to climb like that?" he admired.

"My dad. Being the daughter of a policeman has its benefits. He always wanted me to be prepared," I answered as I dropped down loads of bananas. "Do you wanna just catch them so they don't bruise?" I asked, noticing how he kept slipping whenever he tried to climb the tree.

"Sure," he laughed.

"So, are the kids at this school generally nice, not including Jack?"

"Ha ha, I guess so. They generally are."

"What about the teachers?"

"Well, teachers are teachers, so, no, not really." I couldn't help but giggle at the joke, I laugh a lot.

"Is that enough?" I asked. I had dropped down at least 20 bananas.

"Yeah, that's good." I slid down and gathered a bunch of bananas in my arms and Ralph gathered the rest. We walked over to where Simon and Jack were still sleeping and lay the bananas in a pile.

"Do you think we should wake them up?" I asked.

"Nah, we can just wait." I knew that I was going to get bored pretty soon.

"Do you mind if I go on a walk?"

"As long as you don't mind me coming with you," he replied with a smile. I gave a smile back and started walking through the forest, him following me.

"So, that boy you were talking to earlier, his name is Piggy?"

Ralph looked ashamed. "Well, that's what we call him."

"Why?"

His ears went red. "Well, he told me that people used to call him Piggy but he didn't want to be called that anymore. Then Jack called him Fatty and I told him that his real name was Piggy."

"Ah. You don't seem real proud about it."

"Well, he just got really upset with me. And then I felt bad."

"I'm sure he'll get over it," I reassured him. We came across a rather odd tree with really thick branches sticking out horizontally in random places. I stopped to examine it. "Do you like climbing trees?" I asked.

"If I don't fall, then yes."

"This one looks pretty easy to climb. Come on," I urged. After I folded back my skirt just a little bit so that it wouldn't tear again, I started climbing the tree and I sat on one of the large branches, leaving enough room for Ralph to sit. It took him a little while longer than me, but he finally reached the branch I was on and plopped down next to me. "So, why do you go to this school?" I asked. "Is there any special reason?"

"My dad's in the navy," he answered. "And my mother died when I was 11."

"Oh…I'm so sorry, Ralph."

"It's fine, really." We sat in silence for a few seconds. "There's a spider on your leg," he said.

"What?"

"A spider. It's on your leg."

I looked down to see the creepy crawler skittering up my scratched leg. I shrieked and immediately started swatting at it. In the fight, I was starting to lose my balance and I started leaning backwards. Luckily, Ralph held out his hand to steady me before I started flapping my arms.

"Is it gone?" I cried.

"Hold on, stand still," he said as he reached down to simply flick the spider off my trembling leg.

"Thanks," I laughed. We then both realized that he still had his hand on my back. He quickly took it off and started rubbing his hands on his knees subconsciously. It was quiet for a few seconds again.

"Ralph?"

"Yeah?" he asked nervously, obviously embarrassed.

"Look at me."

He raised his head and looked at me with his dazzling sky blue eyes that were covered by his cocoa brown hair. I pushed the hair out of his face and he started leaning towards me. I did the same until our lips met into a kiss. He gingerly grabbed the back of my neck and I mirrored him for what were the best seconds of my life so far. We must have gone for a full 30 seconds when we heard someone yelling our names from a little distance away. Remembering Jack and Simon, we unhooked our lips and jumped from the tree, running to where we left them.


	4. Chapter 4

**Omigosh, I don't think I wrote this chapter very well and it's pretty predictable which is why reviews are appreciated! I'm not asking for money, just your critical words! I don't own Lord of the Flies, just in case you were wondering. Anyway, thanks for reading this! XOXO**

"There you are!" cried Jack. "Where were you two?"

"Walk," I answered quickly. Probably a little too quickly because he looked a little suspicious.

"Why'd you go?" he asked.

"You two were sleeping," Ralph said. "We didn't want to wake you, so, you're welcome." Jack glared. "Anyway, we ought to head back to camp now. Let's go." We walked back to the camp where many of the boys were playing in the ocean. The kid named Piggy was sitting in the sand and watching them until we came into view.

Piggy then started yelling, "Assembly, assembly!" The boys started to notice that we arrived and got out of the water to sit in a semi-circle again. Ralph grabbed the conch and gave it one blow just in case everyone wasn't there.

"Alright, guys, we went exploring and we found out that this place is an island." Murmurs erupted through the crowd. "Hey!" yelled Ralph. "I've got the conch! You all listen to me now! Since this island is pretty much deserted, we're going to need some kind of signal, like a fire. There's a mountain that way and we can build it atop there, so it can be seen." Before he can say "go" everyone starts up the mountain, screaming and yelling.

Long story short, we almost burned out the entire island.

Everyone had gone out into the ocean to swim after the big episode. Well, not me. I sat on the sand next to Piggy and we started to get to know each other. I learned almost everything about him, I think, everything except his name. Anyway, I didn't want to go in because of the white shirt I had on. White shirt, teenage girl, I really don't feel like explaining this. But soon, Ralph came over to me to invite me to join the fun. He, like many other boys, was wearing just his boxer shorts, no shirt. He didn't exactly have abs, but he still looked really good. Like, _really_ good.

"Hey, Val, why don't come into the water?" Oh, yeah, he started calling me Val now. Amazing what one kiss can do.

"Uh, no, thanks."

"Come on, it's a lot of fun!"

"I can't."

"Why?"

"Because…I'm wearing a white shirt."

"Oh. Well don't girls wear bikinis? It's basically the same thing, isn't it?" Wow. It really is shocking what one kiss can do. "And besides, it's not like I'm gonna stare you down or anything."

"I guess, but I mean-"

"Come on, then!" he pleaded. "It's a lot of fun!"

"But, I can't do it in front of…everyone."

"Well then we'll go to a different part of the island, how's that?"

"You really want me to go into the water, huh?"

"Yes, now come on!" he cried, grabbing my hand and leading me to a different shore area. I hadn't seen this side of him before, it was like he was drunk on happiness. We came to a shore where there was no one except us and a small cliff, which Ralph eagerly wanted to jump off of.

"You're just like a little kid!" I said jokingly.

"Come on, come on!" he pestered, going along with my joke.

"Hold on! I don't want to get all of my clothes wet!"

"Fine, I'll meet you down there!" he said as he leaped off the cliff.

I heard the splash and took off my clothes except for my tank top, my bra, and my underwear. It didn't really matter, right? As long as I didn't get naked. Ralph seemed pretty trustworthy and too innocent to do anything bad to me. Plugging my nose, I took a dive into the water.

"There we go!" Ralph shouted. "See? Fun!"

"I didn't know you had this much of a fun side!" I shouted back as I swam towards him. He was an area where our feet could touch the sand.

"Well, I can be pretty fun-loving. By the way, that dive of yours is pretty sucky," he playfully criticized.

"Oh, yeah? Well I don't think you can do better!"

"Watch me," he said as he started swimming out of the water.

I floated in place, waiting for this magical dive of his. I watched as he started making his way up the cliff, but I was soon interrupted by Jack.

"Is that all you're swimming in?" he asked slyly. I gave a small shriek as I heard his voice from behind me. I made sure that he only saw my back.

"What the hell? Can you leave, please?" I said, half screaming.

"But why? I want to stay here and have fun with you!" he insisted, wrapping his arms around my waist and nuzzling my neck.

"Get- off me!" I yelled, trying to remove his grasp. He held me tight with one hand while using his other to snap my tank-top and bra straps. I gasped, disgusted by him. That really ticked me off. I formed my hand into a fist and flung it behind me to hit him with the face with the back of it. I now realized that Ralph has already taken his dive and was swimming rapidly toward me. I signaled for him to swim to shore. However, when I turned back to see if Jack was following me, I was surprised to see that he wasn't. He was sinking..

"Jack?" I called. "Jack!" I swam as fast as I could back to where he was disappearing under the water. I really hated this guy, but I didn't want to kill him (I think). His whole body underwater, I grabbed him from under the arms and brought him above the surface. "Jack!" I screamed. He still wasn't responding. Desperately, I paddled through the water holding on to him and was soon able to walk him back to shore where Ralph stood.

"What happened?" Ralph asked.

"The freak was grabbing me so I hit him and he started drowning!" I babbled. Tons of boys were surrounding now, probably because they heard me screaming. Everyone saw that Jack wasn't moving.

I practically threw Jack down on his back and listened close to his mouth and nose to see if I could hear or feel his breath.

"He's not breathing!" I cried. The boys formed a tight circle around Jack and me.

I instantly started pumping into his chest. "1,2,3,4…" I counted until I got to one hundred and then listened to him again to see if he was breathing. "Goddammit!" I yelped. Still nothing. I tilted back his head and plugged his nose. As much as I really didn't want to do it, I had to. I pressed my lips to his, breathing air into his body. He still didn't do so much as flinch. I did it again, trying to breathe in more air. This time I felt something, but I really wish I hadn't-his tongue.

"Eugh!" I shrieked, jumping back on my knees.

"Come on, CPR wasn't done yet," he said, his arm reached out to me.

"What?" I shouted. It took me a second to realize what happened. "You weren't really drowning?"

"No, but I was really being saved," he grinned.

"You asshole," I cried, my voice wavering and my eyes watering. Everyone was watching me and I knew it. I marched up the cliff to grab my clothes, which luckily no one spotted because they probably would have taken them. Then I ran, deep into the forest, deep where no one would hear me cry.


	5. Chapter 5

**This is starting to get super corny! But anyway, I know this is extra long for my usual chapters, but I really wanted to keep this as one chapter. Please let me know what you think, R&R! I don't own Lord of the Flies, in case you were wondering.**

I've been with my new classmates for a friggin' day and I already embarrassed myself in front of them. That's great. Anyway, when I got to my space in the forest, I immediately started putting on my uniform. I vowed to myself what I wouldn't go into the water again near anyone, not even Ralph. Then I sat and just cried, that's it. It's not like a cried because of embarrassment, I had other reasons.

I had probably been crying for ten minutes when I heard a rustle in the trees.

"Hello?" I called, trying to make my voice sound clear and strong.

"Hello?" someone repeated. "Valerie?" A figure emerged from the forest to find me; it was Simon. "Hi, Valerie," he said as if nothing happened. He was in the circle around me and Jack, I remembered seeing him there.

"Hi, Simon," I greeted, giving my eyes an extra hard rub. I hate it when people see me crying.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" he asked, referring to an empty space next to me.

"No, go ahead."

"You know, Jack's not as bad as you think." I was astonished to hear Simon say that.

"What do you mean? Why?"

"Well, we have choir together-"

"You guys are in choir?" I interrupted, shocked

"Yeah, why?"

"You guys just don't seem like the type, I guess. Sorry, go on."

"It's alright. Anyway, after choir, I notice his little sister comes in at the end every time. And when we finish, she runs up to him and he lifts her in his arms and talks to her. I mean, I don't think he does it because we're in front of a teacher. I've seen him take her out to places." I cringed a little bit, thinking of my older brother.

"That's so cute," I remarked. "But, why are you telling me?"

"Because, I think you should get a chance to know him. The guy can really be, you know, a pain, but I bet he can be nice sometimes, at least to a girl. All he's really done is tried to get a few peeks at you and pretend to drown."

"Thanks, Simon," I laughed. "Thanks Simon. You're so positive."

"Ha ha, thanks, I guess. But, if you decide to try to be friends with Jack, don't go to the point of no return. I've also seen him go to extremes to get what he wants. Well, I should go. Ralph's building the huts and I promised I'd help."

"I'll go with."

I followed Simon, since he seemed to know where he was going. He found Ralph and a few other boys working together with twigs, leaves, and vines. Ralph saw me and stopped what he was doing to walk over to me.

"Are you okay?" he asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

"I'm fine," I answered with a nod of my head.

"I'm really sorry I made you go in the water."

"You didn't make me go in, I wanted to go in," I assured him. "And besides, it wasn't your fault."

"Well I still shouldn't have made you go in."

"Ralph," I chuckled. "You're fine." I gave him a quick kiss and went to the group of boys working on the shelters. There weren't that many. Actually, there were only 5, including Ralph and Simon. The three other boys were Piggy and a set of twins.

"Hi," I said, getting no reply. I waited for a few seconds but no one said anything. "Well, this is awkward. What are your names?" I asked the set of twins.

"Sam."

"Eric."

Their voices had perfect rhythm together. Quite an interesting pair, those two were; it was like watching a boy and his mirror. Anyway, I used my wonderful conversation skills (not really) to make some talk between us kids. We worked rather fast and finished all of the huts; some huts fit two people while others fit 5. We all soon realized that the sun was going down and that we barely had any food throughout the day.

"Shouldn't Jack be back with his hunters by now?" Ralph asked. Before anyone could say anything else, a bunch of boys came screaming out of the trees, holding a dead pig between them.

"We did it!" cheered Jack. "We killed a pig!" His eyes were obviously filled with delight. That was, until he saw me. However, he quickly averted his eyes and cheered again with the other boys. It seemed like the roasting went by pretty quick, but the partial absence of the sun told us that it was longer than we thought. Ralph blew the conch, starting another assembly.

"Everyone, we did a relatively good job with our responsibilities today. But tomorrow, we need to do better. It was really hard making the huts today, and we'll be lucky if they don't fall apart. More people need to start working. Also, we'll have to start up the fire again tomorrow. People will have to care for it at different times. Got that?" there were nods throughout the crowd. Everyone was a lot sleepier after dinner. "Good. It's starting to get dark, so we can either have some fun until it gets too dark or just go to sleep now." Everyone started talking and some got up without dismissal, running to wherever they thought they'd find fun. "Okay, go," Ralph screamed, although the boys didn't seem to need his permission.

Some boys went running towards the water while others dove into the forest, but there were a select few who went into the huts. Jack walked into one of the larger huts, followed by a few hunters. I remembered what Simon said and decided to take his advice. I approached the hut, a bit apprehensive.

"Jack?" I asked.

He looked up from his laughing buddies (he was obviously cracking jokes). "Yeah?"

"I was…going on a walk. Can you come with me?"

He shot looks to his fellow hunters, as if I was asking him out on a date. "Yeah."

"Oh, and would you mind putting a shirt on?" I said, embarrassing him.

"No, but I think you would," he snickered. I rolled my eyes, but he grabbed his under-t-shirt and slipped it on anyways.

As we were about to start walking in between the trees, I could feel Ralph's eyes on me. I turned and gave him a look that said "it's fine." Why I was doing this with Jack, I didn't know, but I figured it was good to have friends on the island, right? You never know what could happen.

"So, to what do I owe this pleasure?" he asked.

"Oh, like you don't know?" I asked, walking through the forest.

"Is it to tell me that you secretly love me?"

I stopped in my tracks and turned to face him. "Can you serious for a minute, please?"

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"For what?"

"For…not being serious."

"…and?"

"For trying to look up your skirt… But that's a normal boy thing to do!"

I sighed. "…and?"

"For not drowning. There, does that cover it?"

"Yes," I answered happily.

"Why'd you get so upset anyway?"

"Because," I answered continuing into the forest.

" 'cause why?"

"You don't really want me to tell you."

"Yes, I do. If you tell me, I might be more sorry."

I stopped again to face him. "Fine. If you really want to know…my only older brother died drowning, okay? He went out with his friends to a lake and he held his breath too long. They didn't even know he was drowning and no one knew how to do CPR. Since then, I promised myself never to let anyone drown on my watch." I could feel my face growing hot and a few tears run down my cheek. "Are you happy now?"

"I'm real sorry, Valerie. I wouldn't have done it if I'd known."

"Yeah, well, whatever."

"Did you say… that it was your older brother?"

"Yeah, why?" I already knew the answer, he was thinking of his little sister Simon told me about.

"Oh, nothing." We kept walking, but now he was walking by my side.

"So, you're in choir?" I asked, my voice fully recovered from its quivering.

"How'd you know?" He seemed startled.

"People tell me things," I laughed.

"Oh. Yeah, I'm in choir."

"Can you…sing for me?"

His cheeks became a bright red. "Oh, I don't know."

"Come on. You're in choir; you sing all of the time. Besides, isn't it the least you can do for me?"

"I, uh, well…do you have any requests?"

"Surprise me," I giggled.

"Fine, but under one condition: you have to dance with me."

"What? Come on, knock it off-"

"Aren't you trying to be my friend?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"That's it. It's just a friendly dance, I promise." He actually looked sincere, which surprised me.

"It better be because I'm trusting you. This is going to turn out so corny."

"Don't think too much of the song I'm singing, it's one of the few that I remember all of the words to, okay? We had to learn it for choir." I nodded and laughed.

"Sing."

"_Love of mine, someday you will die. But I'll be close behind. I'll follow you into the dark." _As he kept singing, I let him place our hands into the dancing position. "_No blinding light or tunnels to gates of white, just our hands clasped tight, waiting for the hint of a spark." _His voice was so sweet; I couldn't help but smile like an idiot as he swayed me back and forth. _"If heaven and hell decide that they both are satisfied, illuminate the no's on their vacancy signs." _I just noticed how his eyes that seemed so icy and cruel to me yesterday looked soft and pale to me today. _"If there's no one beside you when your soul embarks, then I'll follow you into the dark."_ He stopped singing and dancing, and just stood there.

"You're really good," was all I could say.

"Thank you," he whispered. Before I could protest, he kissed me. I was actually kissing back for a few seconds, when I remembered Ralph.

"This is a friendly dance," I said, parting our lips.

"This is friendly," he claimed.

"No, it's not, Jack. And it doesn't matter, because I think I'm with Ralph."

"You _think _you're with Ralphie boy?"

"Yes, I do-"

"What makes you think that?"

"We kissed, okay? So, please, just let me go." I started to walk away but was pulled back by the grasp Jack still had on my hand.

"Stay, Valerie!"

"No, let me go!" He grabbed both of my wrists and squeezed them tight as I yelped with pain. Fortunately, he was close enough for me to give him a hard knee in the crotch, causing him to start swearing. I ran, but then he tackled me from behind, turning me over to pin me on the ground. He held my wrists down and he practically laid his body over my legs so that I couldn't move them. "Help!" I shrieked. He quieted me by covering my mouth with his lips, which I bit forcefully, causing him to pull back his head and swear again. "Help!" I screamed.

"Shh, you're mine now and I'll do what I want with you," he said. _I guess this is the point of no return Simon was talking about_, I thought. Luckily, before anything happened, someone came and tackled Jack, knocking him right off of me.

**I don't own the song Jack was singing, that song is sung by Death Cab for Cutie and the song is called "I will follow you into the dark". I don't own that!**


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